Structure for the assembly of adjustable framework



Feb. 25, 1969 v. M. J. BREMERS STRUCTURE FOR THE ASSEMBLY OF ADJUSTABLE FRAMEWORK Filed July 21, 1966 Sheet of 5 Feb. 25, 1999 v. M. J. BREMERS 3,429,601

STRUCTURE FOR THE ASSEMBLY 0F ADJUSTABLE FRAMEWORK Filed July 21, 1966 Sheet 3 of s Feb. 25, 1969 v. M. J. BREMERS STRUCTURE FOR THE ASSEMBLY OF ADJUSTABLE FRAMEWORK Filed July 21, 1966 United States Patent Claim My invent-ion relates to an improved structure for the assembly of adjustable framework from profilated channel shaped members or struts formed of sheet metal and of substantially square U-section, the ends of the legs of the U being inwardly bent. It was already known in the art to construct panelled partitions in buildings and all kinds of support irames by means of such channel members and to make connections by means of special oblong nuts constructed to lit inside the channel, the breadth of the nuts being smaller than the spacing between the inwardly bent leg ends of the channel member (see USA. Patent 2,345,650)

It is an object of my invention to bring an improvement of these known constructions in View of the difliculty that until now it could not be avoided that connecting parts such as bolt heads and angle brackets protruded above the open channel side. This caused the risk of damage by pushing against those parts and also the protruding parts complicated the covering of the open channel sides by means of finishing strips and disturbed the desired llat bearing surface in frameworks for bearing gutters and all kinds of supports.

It is also an object of my invention to improve the rigidity by a more favourable positioning of connecting angle brackets in the corners of the framework.

It is another object of my invention to simplify the tinishing of panel constructions and to improve the appearance thereof.

A further object is to adapt the shape of nuts and attachments to the nut for self locating them in place within the channel members which have an improved cross sectional channel shape.

A still further object is the improvement of finishing strips, moulding strips and panel locating strips to be inserted in the improved channel members.

These and other objects and advantages and the new means by which they are obtained will become apparent from the following description with reference to several embodiments represented in the drawing.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a ghost view representing a detail of an inner corner of a frame structure composed of members of known shape.

FIGURE 2 is a cross section through a channel shaped member at the place where a connection is carried out by means of a self-locating nut according to well-known princi les.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a detail showing the provision of finishing strips on a panel according to a known system.

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view to FIGURE 3 showing the positioning and finishing of the panel accommodation in a corner of the frame.

FIGURE 5 is a cross section comparable to that of FIGURE 2 but comprising an improvement according to the present invention.

FIGURE 6 is a side elevation, and

FIGURE 7 is a view of a nut employed in the embodiment of FIG. 5.

FIGURE 8 is a modification of the embodiment shown in FIGURES 5-7.

FIGURE 9 shows a plan view of the nut employed in FIG. 8.

3,429,601 Patented Feb. 25, 1969 "ice FIGURE 10 represents a side elevation to FIGURE 9.

FIGURE 11 is a side elevation of a nut bearing another embodiment of a resilient member compared with the resilient members for self-locating purposes of the nut which are applied in the foregoin g figures.

FIGURE 12 is aplan view to FlGJll.

FIGURE 13 is a side view in the direction of arrow XII-I in FIG. 14 of a modification of the shape of the nut with respect to foregoing figures.

FIGURE 14 is a plan view to 1316313 from below.

FIGURE 15 is an end view of a channel member bearing a finishing strip and of a nut placed therein bearing a modified resilient locating member.

FIGURE 16 is a side view of the resilient nut locating member as applied in FIG. 15.

FIGURE 17 is a plan view from below to FIG. 16.

FIGURE 18 is a cross se'ction of a channel member and of a moulding strip accommodated therein for bearing a panel plate.

FIGURE 19 is a side view of a connection comparable to FIG. 1 but wherein an angle bracket has found a more favourable position which is made possible by the present invention.

FIGURE 20 shows in a side view and partly in cross section a modification with respect to FIG. 19.

FIGURE 21 shows in a cross section an application of the invention for accommodating panels as a part of double walled partitions.

As shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 it was already known to apply an oblong nut, which can be introduced into a channel shaped member 2 by bringing its longitudinal axis in the longitudinal direction of the profilated element 2 and passing it between the inwardly bent parts 3 and 4 of the legs of the channel member 2 and thereupon turn the nut through whereupon as shown in FIG. 1 the legs 7 and 9 of an angle bracket 7 can be fixed on the open sides of the channel members 2 and 10 by means of screw bolts 6 which are screwed into the nut 1, the latter being maintained in the desired place during the assembly by a spring 26. The angle piece 8 bears upon on the outside of the profilated channel element 2. For many supporting frames the legs 7 of angle brackets or other connecting pieces must be made of much thicker metal strips than shown in FIG. 1, e.g. of a thickness as shown in FIG. 2, where also another type of bolt screw is shown.

One of the disadvantages of such protruding connecting parts is shown in FIG. 4, where a panel 11 which has been provided as illustrated in FIGURE 3 with elastical metal finishing strips 12, is secured in a frame, wherein an angle bracket 8 is fastened in each of its corners. The strips must be cut off so that they meet the leg ends of the angle bracket 8 which protrude above the surface of the channel members and additional finishing angle pieces 13 must be added in order to obtain a decent finish. This implies an increase of the cost of labour and stock parts.

The embodiment of the present invention according to FIGURE 5 shows that a fastening piece such as a leg 14 of an angle bracket is countersunk in between the inwardly bent parts 22 and 23 (inner legs) of the main legs 15 and 16 of the U-shaped channel member 17. The connecting piece 14 bears upon two inwardly flanged edges 18 and 19 of the inner legs 22, 23 at a distance from the channel bottom 20, sufficient to accommodate the fastening nut 21 in the space between the bottom 20 and the supporting flanges 18 and 19.

The distance between the flanges 18 and 19 corresponds with the dimensions of a square 24 which protrudes from the head of the fastening nut 21 (see also FIGURE 7), the height of this square being smaller than the thickness of material of the flanges 18, 19. The square 24 can be used for self-locating the nut 21, by choosing its dimensions so large that it is resiliently clamped between the edges of the flanges 18 and 19, for which purpose further small ribs or a grid profile can be provided along the sides of the square, as is diagrammatically indicated by the lines 27 in FIGURE 6. The nut 21 is passed through the slit between the flanges 18, 19 in a position wherein its longitudinal direction of the channel member 17 and thereupon the nut is turned along 90 into the position shown in FIG. which is made possible because two diagonally opposite corners 29 and 30 (FIG. 7) are bevelled. The rectangular corners 31 and 32 prevent the nut 21 being turned further than about 90 because these corners strike after the turn against the inner sides of the legs 15, 16 of the member 17.

Instead of a spring 26 for self locating purposes of the nut 21 as shown in FIG. 2 the embodiment of FIGS. 57 has blade springs 33, 34 arranged on the longitudinal sides of the nut body. In the present embodiment the blade springs 33, 34 are fixed on the sides of the nut 21 by means of spot welds 36 and 37 and the outwardly bent over ends 38 and 39 ensure self-locating of the nut 21 against the walls 15 and 16 by resilient frictional engagement during the time that the bolt 25 has not yet been screwed into the nut hole 35. Ribs as denoted by 40 are provided on the head face of the nut 21, which can be obtained by simply impressing when the nut is punched out or stamped. The said ribs 40 ensure a proper engagement with the flat lower faces of the flanges ribs 19 and 18 when the latter are enclosed between a nut 21 and a connecting piece 14 by tightening the bolt 25 in the nut bore 35.

In FIG. 8 the channel element 41 has a smaller depth compared with FIG. 5 because the legs 42 and 43 of the U-shaped channel section are chosen shorter. The nut 44 (see also FIGURES 9 and is not provided with a square protruding part 24 as in FIG. 7, but the middle part of the nut face bearing the ribs 40 is at the level of the bottom of the furrows between the ribs and this middle part of the nut 43 bears a blade spring member 45, which replaces the spring members 38 and 39 shown in FIGURES 57 but engages again two opposite longitudinal sides of the nut 44. Before the nut 44 is introduced through the slit 46 between the flanges 18 and 19 into the channel 47 the nut 44 is shoved into the part of the spring which is bordered by two parallel spring parts 47 and 48 and an interconnecting side part 49. The spring part 48 comprises two legs each on one side of the nut boring 35 and the opposite spring part 47 may be provided with an opening (not shown) through which the end of a bolt to be screwed into the nut can extend. The outer set off ends of the legs 48 grip over the edge of the nut 44 opposite to the spring side 49. The spring part 47 hearing against the bottom of the nut 44 is one part of a Z-shaped spring member 51 which is compressed from the position of FIG. 10 to that of FIG. 8 when the nut 44 is introduced into the channel 52. In the final position as shown in FIG. 8 the spring part 51 bearing on one side upon the bottom 20 of the channel 52 and on the opposite side against the nut 44 presses the latter resiliently against the flanges 18 and 19.

The nut 44 can be inserted easily at any point along the channel element 41 and is held in place by spring 45 until a bolt is screwed into the hole 35.

FIGURES -17 show that for the same purpose but for deeper channels a two-legged blade spring 53, engaging by its outer ends 54 and 55 two opposite longitudinal sides of a nut 44 can be applied for the same purpose. When bringing the nut 44 in its desired place in the channel member 17 the part 56 of the spring blade 53 is compressed into the position shown in FIG. 15 and by dotted lines in FIG. 16, by which the length of the spring is reduced by a distance 0 and the spring bridges resiliently the distance b. The FIGURES l1 and 12 show that for shallow channel members 8 as shown in FIG. 8 instead of the spring 45 a cushion 57 of elastic material such as foam plastic or sponge rubber can be fastened by means of an adhesive layer 58 on a face of the nut 4 44. The cushion 57 will be resiliently compressed when the nut is introduced in the channel 52.

FIGURES 13 and 14 relate to a nut 59 wherein the flanges 18 and 19 of the channel member 17 or 41 can be enclosed in spaces 60 and 61 between a head part 62 and a bottom part 63 of the nut, which are interconnected by a neck part 64 fitting in the slit 46 (FIG. 8) between the flanges 18, 19. This kind of nuts can be applied in special cases wherein .the height of the space between the inner legs 65, 66 of a channel member 41 should be filled out by the nut head 62 or if the nut is used for fastening a member bearing upon the shoulders 67 and 68 of a channel member 17 FIG. 15 shows a finishing strip 69, made of metal or plastic material for covering the open side of a channel member 17. It is to be understood from the cross section of FIG. 15, that the profile 69 has .two resilient side walls 70 and 71 and the ridges 72 and 73 at the outer ends thereof are passed between the flanges 18, 19 and lock the covering strip 69 in its pressed down position wherein it bears upon the shoulders 67, 68 of the member 17. At the place where a connecting piece 74 is fastened by means of the bolt 75 and the nut 76 parts of the side walls 70 and 71 are cut away so that there only remain wall parts 77 and 78 protruding inwardly.

FIG. 18 shows how a panel or glass plate 79 can be secured in a channel member 80 by means of a moulding strip 81 which can be made of resilient plastic material. The main part 82 of the moulding strip comprises a medium wall 83 bearing upon the shoulders 67 and 68 of the channel member 80 and provided with inwardly protruding walls 85, 86 comparable as to their shape and function with the walls 70 and 71 of the finishing strip 69 of FIGURE 15. However in FIG. 18 of the ends of the walls 85 and 86 are interconnected by a Wall 84. On the other side the wall 33 is provided with a hollow structure having bearing surfaces 87, 88 for the outer edge and one edge side of the plate 78. When the latter has been placed in this bedding 87, 88 the enclosure of the plate edge is completed by means of an additional strip part 89 which has a greater flexibility than the strip part 82 and is locked by means of a protruding edge 90 which is pressed into a corresponding groove of the main strip part 82 and an opposite edge 91 on the latter cooperating with a corresponding groove in the strip part 89.

In the side view of FIG. 19 just as in FIG. 1 a connection is shown in a framework at the meeting point where the end of a vertical channel member 93 is supported by a horizontal channel member 94 and a connection is made between the two by means of an angle bracket piece 92.

However, according to the present invention and contrary to FIG. 1 no connecting parts extend outside the channels.

Moreover it can be stated that the corner of the angle piece 92 does not coincide with the corners 95 or 96 and therefore there is no danger of bending the angle bracket in its corner as in the constructions of FIG. 1.

The same advantages are obtained in the connection shown in FIG. 20 between two channel members 96 and 97, having their open sides not in the same plane but in planes enclosing an angle of 90. In this case a short leg 98 of the angle piece 99 is arranged transversely be tween the inner legs 100 and 101 of the channel member 97.

In FIG. 21 a U-shaped gutter 103 is fastened in a channel member 17 by means of nuts 21 and bolts 19 as described before. The bottom of the thin walled gutter 103 bears upon the flanges 18 and 19 of the channel member 17 by the intermediary of a strip 104 and the upright walls 105 of the gutter 103 are at a small distance from the upright inner legs 22, 23 of the member 17. Into these clearances the re-entering edges 106, 107 of metal panel plates 108, 109 are inserted. The walls of these panel plates are flush with the outer sides 15, 16 of the channel member 17, and the shoulders 110, 111,

5 which connect the panel walls with the re-entering edges 106, 107 bear upon the shoulders 67, 68 of the channel member 17.

What I claim is:

1. Structural means comprising in combination at least 5 one channel shaped member having side walls and a connecting wall defining a space thercbetween and provided with an ever open opening through one side thereof communicating with said space, said side walls having portions turned inwardly upon themselves through said ever open opening and extend for a substantial distance into said space toward said connecting wall, the free end parts of said inwardly turned side wall portions being inwardly turned towards one another to provide flanges disposed in a plane parallel to the plane of said connecting wall, a nut received by said space inwardly of said flanges and bearing against the inner faces of said flanges, a connecting element having a through bore received by said space inwardly of the ever open opening and bearing upon the outer faces of said flanges, and a threaded bolt extending through said bore in the connecting element and received by said nut so that the nut, the connecting element and the bolt are completely housed within said space in the channel shaped member inwardly of the ever open open side of the channel shaped member to present a flat bearing surface for hearing gutters and other kinds of supports.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,174,590 3/1965 Haker 287--189.36 X

FOREIGN PATENTS 538,638 8/1941 Great Britain. 782,428 9/ 1957 Great Britain. 838,537 6/1960 Great Britain. 853,581 11/1960 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES Unistrut General Engineering Catalog No.5, copyrighted 1958, by Unistrut Corp., Wayne, Mich., p. 2 cited. Copy available in class 287, subclass 189.361 Gp. 352, US. Patent Oflice.

CARL W. TOMLIN, Primary Examiner.

WAYNE L. SHEDD, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 52665, 476 

1. STRUCTURAL MEANS COMPRISING IN COMBINATION AT LEAST ONE CHANNEL SHAPED MEMBER HAVING SIDE WALLS AND CONNECTING WALL DEFINING A SPACE THEREBETWEEN AND PROVIDED WITH AN EVER OPEN OPENING THROUGH ONE SIDE THEREOF COMMUNICATING WITH SAID SPACE, SAID SIDE WALLS HAVING PORTIONS TURNED INWARDLY UPON THEMSELVES THROUGH SAID EVER OPEN OPENING AND EXTEND FOR A SUBSTANTIAL DISTANCE INTO SAID SPACE TOWARD SAID CONNECTING WALL, THE FREE END PARTS OF SAID INWARDLY TURNED SIDE WALL PORTIONS BEING INWARDLY TURNED TOWARDS ONE ANOTHER TO PROVIDE FLANGES DISPOSED IN A PLANE PARALLEL TO THE PLANE OF SAID CONNECTING WALL, A NUT RECEIVED BY SAID SPACE INWARDLY OF SAID FLANGES AND BEARING AGAINST THE INNER FACES OF SAID FLANGES, A CONNECTING ELEMENT HAVING A THROUGH BORE RECEIVED BY SAID SPACE INWARDLY OF THE EVER OPEN OPENING AND BEARING UPON THE OUTER FACES OF SAID FLANGES, AND A THREADED BOLT EXTENDING THROUGH SAID BORE IN THE CONNECTING ELEMENT AND RECEIVED BY SAID NUT SO THAT THE NUT, THE CONNECTING ELEMENT AND THE BOLT ARE COMPLETELY HOUSED WITHIN SAID SPACE IN THE CHANNEL SHAPED MEMBER INWARDLY OF THE EVER OPEN OPEN SIDE OF THE CHANNEL SHAPED MEMBER TO PRESENT A FLAT BEARING SURFACE FOR BEARING GUTTERS AND OTHER KINDS OF SUPPORTS. 